The name Amos comes to us from Hebrew, where it is the name of the famous prophet עמוס (ʿamōs). It appears to come directly from the Hebrew verb עמס (ʿ-m-s, or ʿayin-mem-samek), meaning "to load, carry a burden." However, given the discovery of a seal impression bearing the name Amosel (or עמסאל), a theophoric name bearing the name of the deity ʾEl (or simply a reference to "God"), rendering "ʾEl/God has carried (protectively)", and given that the name of the leader of the army under King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 17:16 was Amasiah (עמסיה)—another theophoric name, this time bearing the name of Yah(weh), meaning "Yah(weh) has carried (protectively)"—it is possible that the name Amos is a shortened form of one of these names, essentially meaning "God/Yahweh had carried (protectively)."